INDIANAPOLIS — Richard White watched Derrick White’s legendary putback in last year’s Game 6 against the Heat from 2,000 miles away in Colorado. He texted his son, but while Derrick became a Boston icon in one rush to the offensive boards, he tried to say in the moment. All that mattered was winning back in Boston. They didn’t, and a return to the NBA Finals that once felt inevitable didn’t happen. A legendary moment would now fade into basketball history.
That was the prologue to Monday’s jubilation. The Celtics’ run mostly lacked drama to that point, as the process of winning a title became this season’s greater focus rather than the destination itself.